Players wishing to play HellGate London for free can now do so at hellgate.t3fun.com. It appears to marketed under the name “HellGate Global” and is well maintained with regular game and server updates. Additionally, it looks like they’re working on a new ranking system. Enjoy!
Here’s the teaser trailer:
It feels like the end of an era, albeit one plagued by drama, disappointment and failed aspirations. History has finally closed the chapter on Hellgate: London.
It should be said that there were good times. Good times made to taste even sweeter because of all the bitterness surrounding it, not in spite of it. Lasting friendships were forged and alliances were formed. History has left its mark on us all.
In memory of the game, Ahriman of the Hellgate Guru forums penned this little write-up [link] of the game’s final moments:
Those who stayed up long enough could witness the last shut-down of HG:L. Most players had gathered in Stonehenge and on the minute of 6 am GMT, or midnight CST, did Hellgate: London prompt with an unknown network error and refused any further connection attempts.
Yes, even the webpage is gone.Feels like it was just launched yesterday, when I got really hyped up about the game, cannot concentrate on work and rushed to the launch site to get my CE box. Ran home and played the game for a full 4 hours.This game will always have a place in my heart.
GameDaily has just posted up a new interview they conducted with Bill Roper, who as per a press release sent by Cryptic Studios, is going to be a new Lead Designer on Champions Online.
“As you probably know, a few months ago we had to lay off all of our employees at Flagship, so really what we’ve been doing is trying to work with banks, creditors and former employees to wrap things up. We’re not supporting any products right now.” So when pressed if that meant that it was officially over for the Hellgate: London developer, he responded, “All the principals and employees have moved on. At this point and time, HanbitSoft has purchased the IP, which was being held as securities. Namco will keep their servers up until January 31, 2009.”
Roper is not bitter over his time at Flagship, and in fact thinks that he learned lessons there that he’ll be able to apply at Cryptic. “It can be a problem with a game that you try and go too broad, and I think we did that with Hellgate,” he admitted. “With Champions Online, we’ll focus on making something that’s not wider but is much deeper.”
As a nine-year veteran of Blizzard who has worked on the Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo franchises, Roper hopes to apply those lessons of success to Cryptic. “It was a meritocracy at Blizzard, and they were willing to take someone who was new in the industry and give them some freedom if they did well,” he commented. “So I’ve had experience directing, producing and went up to VP level there.”
[...]
Roper assured us that he was very excited about coming to Cryptic and he even revealed that it wasn’t the standard route to employment. “I think it was fortuitous. I was really just trying to get into the beta for Champions Online,” he commented. “I was into the game even before the beta, and I read about it constantly because I was a big City of Heroes fan. I went to a friend of a friend, and we just started talking about things and as the discussion evolved, we found we had some similar ideas. It’s great coming to a place like Cryptic, a place with some very passionate designers, and it’s nice to be less of a suit!”
“The first thing I’m going to be doing, is talking with the guys and digging deeply into what Champions Online is now. There’s a lot of fantastic stuff here, and we’ll focus on figuring out what’s working, what needs some polish and rethinking other things. We’re approaching the game from the standpoint that those people who are familiar with the license will be comfortable immediately and those people who aren’t familiar or who like to solo play will have their own niches carved out,” he concluded.
While we know Bill Roper as the CEO of Flagship Studios and his game Hellgate: London which we have covered for a long time, many people always blamed bad decisions of the managing team for the fall of Hellgate London. It was even stated by Bill many times that they tried to take on too much and couldn’t handle it all.
This is why it seems a bit weird that rather than putting Bill into a design position or maybe a storyline position he is being thrust straight into such a leading position. Champions Online was another game that we followed on the Guru websites, so it’s going to be sad if it ends up failing like Hellgate London.
Either way, good luck to Bill on his new venture and hopefully he has more success with the new game.
File this one under rumours and speculations as based on my own findings.
While we do know that FSS has died, as per yesterday’s post about Hanbiton acquiring Hellgate: London, we do know that the IP is owned by T3 now. What we didn’t know however, is what would happen to the US version of the game.
A new post went up today on the Korean Hellgate London website. It is a post talking about Halloween events and the “re-opening of the Hellgate”, however what is interesting about it, is that it has a section written in English on a usually Korean only website.
So take this news with a grain of salt, but until we have more news, there is possibility that the game might come back in some way.
Enjoy
Tristram is like a second home to many of us who played the original Diablo.
Within this article, entitled “A Nostalgic Return to Tristram” I write about a return to the iconic, but ill-fated town of Tristram. The town that defined the world of Diablo and what we, as players of Diablo III can hope to expect when we step foot back into the town with which we grew familiar so long ago.
This is the first of many Journal entries to come of my forays into Diablo’s place and setting, which hopefully serves to compliment our growing anticipation for Diablo III.
There was a MASSIVE topic here on Lan at one stage when it was announced that it wouldn’t be in HGL…
So thought some people might like to discuss what repurcussions if any would exist in Diablo 3 for not having it as per the latest announcement by Jay Wilson.
This is from a translated interview by diablo3.4gamer.de
The video can be watched at Hellforge.
His vitriolic words are aimed towards those with ‘unreasonable’ complaints against Diablo 3′s art direction, and each of the player complaints are addressed one by one in the video.
What was once Blizzard Guru is now Hellforge.
Hellforge is not your average Diablo III fansite.
We offer a more fully featured way for you to discuss Diablo III. Look, to us it’s all about the community. Any old fan site can post news, content… the typical stuff. But there are not a lot of sites out there that accommodate your opinions. None, in fact. To most sites, it’s all about listening to the staff and what they think.
With us, it’s about you. You tell us what you want to say. Just create a blog, and write a post. Put your opinions out there and be heard. It’s as simple as posting on a forum.
You can upload your own videos as well as images for all to see. Writing your own blog, responding to one, or simply posting on a traditional forum?
It’s all up to you.
While not strictly related to Blizzard, we’ve been following the progress of the former Flagship Studios’ developers, so this is relevant.
GameCyte has a new interview up with two of them who have started a new studio, Runic Games, who are Max Schaeferand Travis Baldree. The interview delves deep into why the company moved, why they think FSS failed like it did. It specifically mentions the current state of FSS right now as well. Specifically Max makes an emphasis on the fact that for all intents and purposes Flagship Studios is closed down, and Bill is just there to finish off the closure.
Max then goes on to talk about his brother and his involvement with the team. It then goes on to talk about if FSS had any chance of staying open. They then talk of the sorts of games they want to make with the new studios.
Next they talk about the game’s (Mythos) differentiation with Diablo 3 and Sacred 2, as well as the whole colour issue in Diablo 3. Lastly they mention that Namco at the moment is just handling the box sales of Hellgate London, but there is no current knowledge of what they plan to do with the game later.